PC Noob vs Capable PC - What to look for/What to get?

[A7XDrumCovers]

I am a PC noob, quite literally I am not very good at knowing what is the best hardware and what is the best software for a PC. I know how to use a lot of software such as AutoCAD, 3DS Max, Photoshop, Illustrator, and I am learning about Sony Vegas Pro. I also know a bit of coding, using HTML, PHP and MySQL. The thing is, I am looking to move to a good-better PC for 2 things: Gaming, and Recording/Editing Video. Both of these are not very possible with my current PC, which is extremely outdated, still sitting at 2GB RAM, and Windows Vista for crying out loud! Haha. So, I am finally ready to spend about 1200-1500 bucks on a PC, that I can build myself (which I have done once before in a Computer Science class), with the help of Linus' video.

 

I was originally going to buy the hardware Linus recommended in his $1500 budget video, but I thought it would be best to go to the forums directly and ask if there is better items for my particular needs. I do not need a new keyboard or headset, I have a keyboard I am happy with at the moment and I have a headset from Afterglow with pretty good sound, even though the microphone was stated by others to be "Way too loud considering there is no setting to turn the voice volume down". Kind of a shame, but I dont know many people playing PC anyways.

 

So, I am asking if there is any recommended set ups, rigs, or parts to use for building this PC, in order to run a gaming PC smoothly, while still being able to use recording software in 720/1080p flawlessly for outside projects. Also, it would be a nice addition to have a PC that renders Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere projects nicely. If I need a bigger budget for this project, then I will make it bigger, but I am looking for something specifically in my budget as of right now. I think I should state once again, I am no expert but I do understand the parts of a PC decently, and how costly some projects can be. But any help is loved and appreciated!

 

Thanks everyone, have a wonderful day.

 

~Tyler

[ThyFeared]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($209.97 @ Amazon) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($28.66 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($118.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

Memory: Avexir Core series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($53.98 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Superclocked Video Card  ($430.50 @ Newegg) 

Case: Corsair 760T Black ATX Full Tower Case  ($154.99 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.99 @ Micro Center) 

Total: $1137.06

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-11 18:40 EDT-0400

Pretty good for what you need to do.

 

Also follow your topic to get notifications.

[Qub3d]

A good gaming PC can be built for as little as $5-600, and an OK one for $400 if you don't care about aesthetics. 

 

A Rendering PC can be built for about the same, you just shift the cost of the GPU and roll it into a better CPU.

 

A Rendering and Gaming PC can be a bit more. The $1500 PC will perform adequately. I use similar hardware on my $1800 build, and I get approximately 1:1.5 render length to video length in a GPU accelerated programs like Vegas.

 

About parts:

 

Case: Look for construction quality, airflow, internal room for parts/cable management, and finally aesthetics.

 

CPU: I'd recommend intel, but it is really a toss-up. If you go the AMD route, I can't help you much. For rendering at home, an i7 will do. You don't need the extreme edition.

 

Motherboard: (Again, I don't know a thing about AMD chips, so this is assuming an intel board) Modern boards are all approximately the same in terms of quality, provided you stick to known brands. The difference is the bells and whistles. Do you want overclocking? Out of the Box Broadwell+ support? Look at an intel z9 series. Just want a solid CPU that will last you five years. An 87 or compact 8 series board will do. 

 

Memory: DDR3 will be just fine. For rendering/3D modeling, you will want a minimum of 8GB; if you can squeeze out 16GB go for it.

 

Storage: There is no reason to not get under a 1TB HDD these days. Grab a Western Digital Blue for a good deal.

 

GPU: AMD / NVidia. AMD usually has a tad better price/power ratio, but NVidia units can offer some proprietary solutions like CUDA to Computer-Aided Designers. I personally like the R9 280x right now.

 

PSU: 400 Watts would be enough if you don't plan to SLI/Crossfire. I'd recommend a 500 watt or higher for the better efficiency, but not something ridiculous like an AX1200i.

 

Also, pcpartpicker.com is your friend. It even has a compatibility filter these days!

Edited September 11, 2014 by Qub3d

[Bingbear]

I have to agree with previous posters (at the time of viewing/writing). Although I would recommend that you check out Adobe Premiere for editing film. In the case that you give a shot at Premiere, I would recommend a NVIDIA GPU due to the support for CUDA (CUDA support is also available in Photoshop for a few things). 

 

Had it not been 3am in my timezone I would gladly have given you my recommended build, but as I am a bit tired I'm just going to wish you the best of luck and that you have loads of fun with your PC planning and building!

[13CA350]

I'd recommend at BARE MINIMUM 16GB of RAM. Depending on how intense your Photoshop, CADD, and recording is 32GB may be ideal. @ThyFeared did a great overall build, but with still about 3-4 hundred dollars left over you have plenty of room for an SSD and more RAM. Here are some parts I'd recommend:

 

SSD:

(240GB or 480GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178742

 

RAM:

(32GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233232

(16GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233246

[A7XDrumCovers]

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($209.97 @ Amazon) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($28.66 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($118.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

Memory: Avexir Core series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($53.98 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Superclocked Video Card  ($430.50 @ Newegg) 

Case: Corsair 760T Black ATX Full Tower Case  ($154.99 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.99 @ Micro Center) 

Total: $1137.06

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-11 18:40 EDT-0400

Pretty good for what you need to do.

 

Also follow your topic to get notifications.

 

 

 

A good gaming PC can be built for as little as $5-600, and an OK one for $400 if you don't care about aesthetics. 

 

A Rendering PC can be built for about the same, you just shift the cost of the GPU and roll it into a better CPU.

 

A Rendering and Gaming PC can be a bit more. The $1500 PC will perform adequately. I use similar hardware on my $1800 build, and I get approximately 1:1.5 render length to video length in a GPU accelerated programs like Vegas.

 

 

I have to agree with previous posters (at the time of viewing/writing). Although I would recommend that you check out Adobe Premiere for editing film. In the case that you give a shot at Premiere, I would recommend a NVIDIA GPU due to the support for CUDA (CUDA support is also available in Photoshop for a few things). 

 

Had it not been 3am in my timezone I would gladly have given you my recommended build, but as I am a bit tired I'm just going to wish you the best of luck and that you have loads of fun with your PC planning and building!

 

Thank you all very much for your recommendations and help! I greatly appreciate that, I didnt know about the website and the little tidbits you gave me make it more understandable to me than ever. If anyone else has any recommendations, I am very open with them.

That build seems to be very good for what I am looking for, thank you VERY much for the recommendation!

Thank you for letting me know about following posts! Was unaware i dont get notifications right from the start.

I would probably go with Intel as well, since that is our household standard. But I will have to look a little further into it, to be sure i wanna go that route.

Thank you for the wish! I hope you and I will cross paths once again very soon!

[A7XDrumCovers]

I'd recommend at BARE MINIMUM 16GB of RAM. Depending on how intense your Photoshop, CADD, and recording is 32GB may be ideal. @ThyFeared did a great overall build, but with still about 3-4 hundred dollars left over you have plenty of room for an SSD and more RAM. Here are some parts I'd recommend:

 

SSD:

(240GB or 480GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178742

 

RAM:

(32GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233232

(16GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233246

 

Ah, I see, this is helpful information. I was planning on going with 16 gigs, so hopefully that will go great with what I need.  

EDIT: Didnt realize @ThyFeared was the first member who replied to this, yes he did a pretty sweet build for me, and I appreciate your work, once again!

[brob]

This is a Xeon build. Essentially an i7 without the on-die graphics. It is not really overclockable but will do a good job in AutoCAD, 3DS Max, Photoshop, Illustrator and Vegas Pro. The GTX 770 will provide for decent gaming and good gpu acceleration in Vegas and Adobe.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($247.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PLUS ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($105.24 @ Amazon)
Memory: PNY XLR8 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($148.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($109.99 @ Micro Center)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($53.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PNY GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card  ($318.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design FD-CA-CORE-3500-BL-W ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($97.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VN248H-P 23.8" Monitor  ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1403.13
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-11 21:45 EDT-0400

[Electrostatik]

Maybe postpone that video card decision for about a week or so.  The new Nvidia stuff is just around the corner.

[Qub3d]

Maybe postpone that video card decision for about a week or so.  The new Nvidia stuff is just around the corner.

This is kinda perpetual, though, isn't it? I mean, in technology, there is always something better "just around the corner". At some point you just have to jump in.

[Electrostatik]

This is kinda perpetual, though, isn't it? I mean, in technology, there is always something better "just around the corner". At some point you just have to jump in.

Yes you're right.  However, this time, Nvidia is literally days from announcing new cards.